Midwest Player of the Year

Zach Currier, Culver Academy (Ind.)

The deciding game of the 2013 NBA Finals was on television last
Thursday night, but Zach Currier knew he would not have time to
watch. Currier chose lacrosse over the Heat-Spurs game that night.
It's a choice he has made many times, ever since he fell in love
with the sport at the age of eight.

"When I was eight years old, my dad put me into lacrosse to
toughen me up for hockey, and it ended up taking over my life,"
Currier said. "I started playing lacrosse, and I don't know what it
is about the sport, but I just love it. Every aspect of my life is
pretty well based around it."

For Currier, the takeover is as complete as it is literal. This
summer, the graduated Culver Academy star will work at a lacrosse
camp, teaching first- through eighth-graders about the sport. After
teaching lacrosse from until around 3 p.m., Currier has practice,
and then he will go to a game or stream a professional contest.

"I try to get involved with lacrosse as much as I can, and it's
just awesome," Currier said.

Currier has done more than get involved in the sport, however.
He has also begun to dominate it.

"The best player on our team and I think personally the best
player in the country is Zach Currier," coach Jon Posner said.
"That kid is special. He did everything for us. Every time we
played an opponent, whether it was out east or in the Midwest,
everybody commented on Zach and how he was the best player on the
field every game."

In 2013, according to Posner's estimate, Currier tallied 68
goals, 41 assists, 109 points and 113 ground balls. He also won 69
percent of his draw controls for Culver Academy.

"He's a player that can do it all," Posner said. "He's an
offensive threat every time he touches the ball. Defensively, he's
probably hands down the best defensive midfielder I've ever
seen."

He excelled even when playing at a new position. When Matt
Neufeldt fell victim to an ACL injury, Currier helped fill in for
him as the Eagles' long-stick midfielder.

"He just did it all," Posner said. "Every time he had the ball
in his stick, he could make plays. No matter what he was doing,
whether it was in between the boxes or pushing transition
offensively, he's just a guy that every time we needed a goal, we
could give it to Zach and we were in a good position to score."

Currier, who began his career at that position, said he didn't
mind the switch one bit. He said that he loves the stick checks,
creativity and ball pursuit required at long-stick midfielder.

"When I started, I didn't really have great stick skills, but I
could run really well," Currier said. "I love to play long pole so
I always had it in my hands as much as I could, just messing
around. I've been talking to coach Posner for the past couple of
years, trying to get one."

It came to fruition when he faced Shack Stanwick of Boys' Latin
(Md.), one of the game's best, who Currier somehow stripped the
ball from on multiple occasions.

Currier did all of this while recovering from wrist surgery in
January that threatened to keep the senior midfielder out of the
Eagles' lineup for part of the season. Instead, Currier played
through it with a brace that essentially rendered his left hand
useless. Even now, he's not 100 percent, though few would know it
from the way he played on the field.

"There's not too many of those type of players out there anymore
that can really do everything and anything," Posner said.

Spotlight On ...

Upper Arlington (Ohio)

Entering the 2013 season, Upper Arlington coach Ted Wolford knew
it would not be easy blending 17 new faces into a
championship-caliber crew.

He worried about his entirely remade attack. He feared his
midfield production, where four of his top six players from 2012
departed. He did not have to worry about his defense, however.

And on June 8, his defense brought home another state title, as
the Golden Bears held an opponent to six or fewer goals for the
sixth-straight time, defeating Dublin Jerome (Ohio) 7-6 in the
championship game.

"That's what we believe — that it was our defense that set
up our offense most of the year and our defense that held strong
for us, especially at the end of that ball game against Dublin
Jerome when they were pressing hard," Wolford said. "I think it's
sometimes that old adage where offense wins games but defense wins
championships and it's just something that can't be
overlooked."

The defense was led by goalkeeper Jack Warmolts and defenseman
Brandon Jones, both headed for Air Force, as well as defenseman
Jake Nolan, bound for the University of Denver. All three
ultimately earned first-team All-State honors. Nolan was the
state's Defensive Player of the Year while Warmolts was the Buckeye
State's Goalkeeper of the Year. Joe Cameruca, a senior coming back
from an injury-plagued 2012, gave Wolford the veteran leadership he
craved.

"We were pretty much playing the same level right out of the
gate," Wolford said. "From the get go, they did great."

Indeed, the Golden Bears surrendered just five goals over their
first four games and held their opponents to six goals or fewer in
all but one game. And with that one game, a 17-5 defeat to Culver
Academy (Ind.), Upper Arlington refused to let the loss get to it
or ruin its defensive confidence.

"There are going to be teams that are going to be better than
you in the country and they were one of those teams that just
happens to be not where we'd expect them to be," Wolford said.
"It's not on Long Island, it's not a part of the MIAA, but that's
as good as any team you're ever going to see."

With the awareness that the Eagles had also blown out local
rivals Mason (Ohio) and Archbishop Moeller (Ohio) and the chance to
see Culver Academy blow out Hill Academy (Canada) in person, the
Golden Bears used their loss as a learning experience, but didn't
take too much from their one bad defensive performance of the
season. They could use it as a chance to study film — no
less, no more — according to Wolford.

And the defense was right where it needed to be come postseason
time, holding five postseason opponents to a combined 22 goals.

"That was the one area that we had depth in and we carried 11
defensemen and all 11 defensemen could step on the field and play,"
Wolford said. "You take that [Culver] game out of the record books,
it's a very consistent group. We didn't even give up two assists on
average a game so our guys did a nice job of taking care of the
feeders as well as taking care of the goal scorers."

Note: The Nike/US Lacrosse Regional rankings will not
necessarily reflect the same order as the Nike/US Lacrosse National Top 25 poll,
which is voted on by US Lacrosse area representatives and Lacrosse
Magazine contributors. LM contributors compile the regional
rankings.